Horizon Power and Synergy have joined forces to deliver one of the longest EV networks in the world.
It is safe to say that the WA EV Network is already serving it primary purpose, namely making it easier for electric vehicle (EV) drivers to explore Western Australia and connect to the rest of the country.
Stretching 7000km along the WA coast, from Kununurra in the north to Albany in the south and out to the Nullarbor, this innovative project will be one of the world’s longest EV networks once complete.
WA electronics engineer and EV enthusiast Harald Murphy is something of a modern-day pioneer in this area.
Since buying his first EV in 2017, Mr Murphy has clocked up more than 400,000km circumnavigating Australia – twice while towing a caravan. This month he will have completed his seventh ‘big lap’ around the country.
His EV journeys have taken him from his home in Perth to all of Australia’s other major cities, as well as some of the country’s most far-flung locations.
For the moment, Mr Murphy is leading the charge – no one else has travelled around the country as many times as he has in an EV. But with uptake rapidly increasing, many other EV drivers could soon be joining Mr Murphy on the open road, and journeys like his may one day soon be the norm.
“In the past, EV road trips have been arduous journeys only undertaken by pioneering enthusiasts, mostly to prove a point,” Mr Murphy said.
“Hopefully in years to come there will be thousands of laps of Australia completed every year by EV drivers, without anyone noticing.
“I think we will also see many more EV owners crossing the Nullarbor to come to Western Australia for longer road trips.”
Mr Murphy is part of an exclusive club. The first person to travel around Australia in an EV did so in 2011 and, since then, only 39 laps of the country have been completed in an EV.
“The reason I bought my first EV was the technology embodied in the vehicle,” Mr Murphy said.
“Another significant factor was that I could charge my car at home and not have to go to a petrol station – which meant that every morning I woke up, my car had full range.
“I guess you could say I bought my first EV because of laziness. Although the environmental benefits of driving an EV weren’t my prime consideration, it is certainly a pleasant bonus that those benefits are there and are significant.”
Seven years after he bought his first EV, Mr Murphy is now driving a Tesla Model Y Performance and, as the Secretary of the Tesla Owners Club, he has no regrets.
“Absolutely none,” he said.
“I can’t imagine any circumstance whatsoever where I would ever go back to a fossil-fuel vehicle of any kind.”
Mr Murphy’s trips around Australia have become a lot quicker since his inaugural journey, and a big part of this improvement is due to the WA EV Network, which opened its first charger in Geraldton in April 2023.
When Mr Murphy set out on his first lap in a Tesla Model X in 2018, it was the first time someone had done the drive in an electric SUV.
That trip took Mr Murphy 19 days – but the same trip now can take as little as ten days.
Back in 2018, the fast DC-charging landscape was all but non-existent.
“On my first day of that trip I travelled 907km from Perth to Carnarvon, and during that day, I had to spend seven hours and five minutes by the side of the car charging on slow AC chargers,” Mr Murphy said.
“That same trip now requires little more than an hour of fast charging.”
When complete, the WA EV Network is expected to be one of the longest in the world, with 98 charging stations across 49 locations.
Chargers are located in popular tourist destinations, such as Broome, Exmouth, Kings Park, Margaret River and Esperance, and in more remote locations such as Mueller Ranges in the Kimberley and Mundrabilla on the Nullarbor.
The project, which will be completed in coming months, is being delivered by Horizon Power and Synergy on behalf of the Western Australian Government.
Drivers on the network will be able top up their vehicles in as little as 20 minutes – from chargers located every 200km – which Mr Murphy said would transform the landscape for EV drivers.
“I think it will also remove one of the main barriers stopping West Australians in built-up and remote areas from purchasing an EV – range anxiety.
“Range anxiety is an often-used term among EV drivers, but it is really, in essence, about access anxiety. It’s the fear that there are no chargers where you need them.”
According to Mr Murphy, the remoteness of many of the chargers also highlights the importance of those locations having working chargers that allow drivers to continue their journey.
“At the completion of the WA EV Network, there will be an unbroken string of pearls (EV chargers), which will enable all EV drivers to seamlessly undertake a road trip from the very top of Western Australia all the way through to the South Australian border,” Mr Murphy said.
“It will make a journey from Kununurra all the way to the South Australian border a simple and normal trip – an unremarkable undertaking.
The WA EV Network is part of the State Government’s $43.5 million investment in EV infrastructure, aimed at boosting uptake to support the state’s journey to net zero emissions by 2050.
Horizon Power, Western Australia’s regional energy provider, is responsible for the delivery of 29 fast chargers and 25 back-up AC chargers across 27 locations from the Kimberley, Pilbara, and Gascoyne to Esperance, and the Goldfields.
One of the key goals of the WA EV Network is to relieve range anxiety and make EVs an option for more people, whether they live in the city or in regional parts of the state.
According to 2023 research from Goldman Sachs, EVs will make up about half of global car sales by 2035, with numbers soaring to about 73 million units in 2040.
Horizon Power CEO, Stephanie Unwin, said EVs were one of the biggest changes to road transport current generations would see in their lifetime.
“Horizon Power has an important role to play in making sure our communities can take advantage of EVs and that we can get them to their next destination – wherever that may be,” Ms Unwin said.
“We are really proud of this project. The network is pioneering.
“We know that the number of EVs is going to continue to rise significantly and we are doing everything we can to support this expected uptake. We are installing EV charging infrastructure around the state so that we can be prepared for this uptake.”
Horizon Power’s service area is the largest geographical catchment of any Australian energy provider. The organisation manages the North West Interconnected System in the Pilbara; the connected network covering three interconnected systems in Kununurra, Wyndham and Lake Argyle; and 34 microgrids tailored to meet the unique needs of some of the most isolated and remote communities in the world.
“Our chargers are located in some of Australia’s most remote regions, which brings with it unique challenges and requires novel thinking, something Horizon Power is well equipped for,” Ms Unwin said.
Horizon Power is deploying standalone systems to power some of the more isolated charging locations, providing EV drivers with access to chargers in remote locations that don’t have an existing power supply.
Western Australia’s largest electricity generator and retailer, Synergy, is responsible for the delivery of 25 fast chargers and 19 back-up chargers across the SWIS (South West Interconnected System), which includes Perth’s metropolitan area and expands from Kalbarri to Kalgoorlie to Albany.
Synergy Deputy CEO and Executive General Manager Future Energy, Kurt Baker, said that the WA EV Network was already proving to be a success.
“The WA EV Network runs through some of the most picturesque locations in Western Australia,” Mr Baker said.
“The route includes Geraldton, Lancelin, Manjimup, Walpole, Albany and Hyden, just to name a few places.
“So far, more than 22,000 charges have occurred via charging stations located across the SWIS, with drivers able to charge their car in 32 minutes on average.
“We now have EV chargers available in key locations across Western Australia, from Kings Park, our main city park, to beautiful regional tourist towns such as Margaret River and Bunbury.”
“It’s heartening to see more EV owners getting out on longer road trips. Thanks to the WA EV Network those trips are quicker, but also a lot more enjoyable,” Mr Baker said.
Mr Murphy has visited all the charging sites along the network, and every time he pulls up at one, he said he is reminded of just what a significant achievement the successful roll-out of this project has been.